The Bureau recalled that the Regional authorities in Bahir Dar, where Simen National Park is located, had expressed their disagreement with the decision of the Committee, taken at its twentieth session (Merida, 1996), to include Simen in the List of World Heritage in Danger. The Bureau noted with satisfaction the efforts undertaken by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks of Ethiopia and the UNESCO Office in Addis Ababa to provide more information to the Bahir Dar authorities on the meaning and implications of the Committee’s decision to include Simen in the List of World Heritage in Danger.
The Bureau encouraged the Centre to co-operate with the Ethiopian authorities and the UNESCO Office in Addis Ababa and continue to urge the Bahir Dar authorities to view the Committee’s 1996 decision to include Simen in the List of World Heritage in Danger in a positive manner and organise, as quickly as possible, the Stakeholders’ Workshop for which the Committee had approved a sum of US$ 30,000 in 1996. The Bureau recommended that the Committee retain Simen in the List of World Heritage in Danger and authorised the Chairperson to re-allocate US$ 30,000 from the 1998 budget for Technical Co-operation, in the event the Stakeholders’ Workshop could be organised.